Oil hovers around 76 dollars in Asian trade
SINGAPORE: Oil hovered around 76 dollars in volatile Asian trade Friday on weak economic data which dampened hopes for a swift US rebound from recession.
New York”s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was down nine cents to 76.53 dollars a barrel in morning trade. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery added seven cents to 76.02 dollars.
“Some economic data in the United States are signalling slower economic growth and that has put a lid on any price rally,” said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
Doubts about the strength of the US recovery were fuelled by reports Thursday that manufacturing activity in the state of New York and in the Philadelphia region was weaker than expected this month.
The strength of the economic rebound in the United States is being closely watched by investors because it consumes more energy than any other country in the world.
Shum told media concerns over the US economy were weighing down on Asian stocks Friday and the sentiment was likely to spill over into the oil market.
“I see some downward pressure from the Asian equities markets… I don”t think we”re going to see a whole lot of gains in oil,” he added.
Oil prices are likely to trade between 70 and 80 dollars a barrel for some time, Shum said.
“There is really no big driver to cause oil to break out of this range,” he said.
Oil below 78 dollars on profit-taking, weaker stocks
SINGAPORE: Oil prices eased in Asian trade Thursday as stock markets weakened and investors booked profits following a surge above 78 dollars a barrel, analysts said.
New York”s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, shed 55 cents to 77.12 dollars a barrel while London”s Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was off 22 cents at 77.92 dollars.
“Oil prices have eased a bit and this is consistent with the movement in equities,” said Victor Shum, a senior principal with the Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy.
“It”s not surprising that we are seeing declines at the same time that we are seeing some easing in the Japanese Nikkei stock index,” he told AFP.
Japanese stocks opened lower Thursday, with the headline Nikkei index losing 57.90 points or 0.58 percent to 10,009.25 in the first minutes of trading.
Shum said investors were also cashing in profits after oil prices rose for the third day running Wednesday, with the New York contract reaching an intra-day peak of 78.13 dollars, its highest price since May 10.
“Oil pricing has been rallying for the past couple of days in line with the rally in equities and after these gains, investors are inclined to book some profits,” Shum said.
Prices had gained support from a surprise drop in US gasoline inventories, which stoked hopes for rising summer demand in the world”s biggest energy-consuming nation.
Oil prices fall below 70 dollars
SINGAPORE: Oil fell below 70 dollars in Asian trade Monday as a weak US jobs report continued to hurt investor sentiment, analysts said.
New York”s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, fell 1.82 dollars to 69.69 dollars a barrel in morning trade.
Brent North Sea crude for July delivery shed 1.46 dollars to 70.63 dollars.
“Oil has continued to plunge this morning, and that is also consistent with Asian equities markets, which are tanking,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy.
Major Asian bourses nosedived in early trade Monday, with the Japanese, Australian, South Korean and Hong Kong stock markets all falling after opening.
Prices could well drop below 2010 lows of 67.90 dollars a barrel experienced in May this year over the next few days, said Shum.
“It certainly could fall to that level… right now the sentiment is to sell, and the momentum could make prices drop further,” he said.
Oil and stock markets are being depressed by “disappointing US employment data,” he added. A weak US jobs report released Friday raised questions about the strength of the US economic recovery, souring international investor sentiment.
The US economy created 431,000 non-farm jobs in May — the vast majority due to temporary government hiring for this year”s census. Most experts had expected 500,000 would be added.
Fears of the eurozone”s financial crisis spreading to other countries within the region was also dragging equities and oil markets south, Shum said.
“Both markets are reacting to concerns on the European market of the crisis spreading to other markets,” he said.
Pak annual tax exemptions estimated at Rs200b
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) estimates that it can generate around three per cent of the GDP in taxes by abolishing exemptions, an official document said on Saturday.
Influential people, industrialists, agriculturists and businessmen of the country are enjoying tax and duty exemptions to the tune of Rs 200 billion per annum including general sales tax (GST), which comes to 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
According to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) first half (July-December) period report issued here on Saturday, Punjab has potential to generate an amount of nearly Rs 6 billion per year from agriculture income tax. Total collection of agriculture income tax is hardly Rs 1 billion that is mostly from Punjab. Sindh makes an insignificant contribution, while Baluchistan and NWFP have no contribution at all.
There is a probable estimate that in Punjab there is a potential of Rs 6 billion a year. Provincial taxes yield no more than 0.4 percent of the GDP, so that district and provincial governments depend on large fiscal transfers from the Centre to meet their expenditure responsibilities. The contribution of provincial taxes in the overall taxes collected is very low. While vesting the power to tax incomes on the Centre, presumably as a legacy of history, the constitution excluded income from agriculture from the purview of the income tax, violating the canon of horizontal equity and opening up scope for evasion and litigation.
The report said that some exemptions like the income tax threshold and GST and basic foodstuffs are granted to protect the most vulnerable groups of society from ‘onerous’ taxes.
Some (the GST threshold) are done for administrative reasons. Exemptions are also introduced to protect certain industries or provide for the development of infant industries.
There are also political exemptions for segments of the economy like diplomats, top echelon of civil and military bureaucracy, and employees of international organisations. Specific temporary exemptions are also granted to address issues that arise from time to time. The exemptions granted for import of essential commodities to counter inflationary expectations are a good example of these temporary exemptions.
FBR said that Pakistan made considerable progress in broadening the tax-base and ensured equity in the taxation system. A broad-based Value-Added Tax (VAT), bitterly opposed by the business community, is being proposed from the new financial year 2010/11 (July-June).
The implementation of VAT is one of the conditions of International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its standby arrangement of of $11.3 billion for Pakistan.
“The Value-Added Tax could be considered as an efficient tool for documentation of the economy, widening of the tax-base and affective taxation mechanism, leading to a substantial increase in government revenue,” the report said.
Punjab, the report estimated, has a potential to generate nearly Rs6 billion from agriculture income tax. Total collection of the agriculture income tax is hardly Rs1 billion that is mostly from Punjab. There are also political exemptions for segments of the economy like diplomats, top echelons of civil and military bureaucracy, and employees of international organisations.
In case of Pakistan, the threshold is Rs200,000 ($2,410) for the individual income tax and Rs5,000,000 ($60,240) in turnover for the sales tax.
Oil races toward 86 dollars
SINGAPORE: Oil raced toward 86 dollars a barrel in Asian trade Monday, extending gains on demand optimism amid signs of a global economic upswing, analysts said.
New York”s light sweet crude for delivery in May was up 84 cents to 85.71 dollars a barrel. New York crude briefly traded above 85 dollars last week, its highest level since October 9, 2008.
Brent North Sea crude for May climbed 72 cents to 84.73 dollars a barrel.
Analysts said the market”s rally was helped by a string of bullish economic data, including Friday”s US jobs report, which showed the biggest growth in three years and raising recovery hopes for the world”s largest economy.
“Many traders also bought ahead of the long weekend and now we have some momentum carrying the trade forward and pushing prices up,” said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
Investor sentiment was also boosted by last week”s data showing the US manufacturing sector grew at a faster pace than expected and a government report that said Chinese manufacturing picked up in March.
Manufacturing in the eurozone also defied forecasts in March, with a key index hitting a 40-month high.
A weaker dollar which makes dollar-priced commodities like crude cheaper for investors using other currencies have also helped push oil prices higher, analysts said.
Asian Stocks Rise Amid Greece Hopes
HONG KONG: Asian stock markets rose Wednesday amid growing hopes of a solution to Greece’s financial crisis.
Major markets added less than 1 percent as the region extended its gains for a fourth straight day. The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro, while oil prices were little changed.
Worries about Greece’s ability to stabilize its finances have eased in recent days amid speculation European leaders will orchestrate a bailout and the government will take needed steps to reduce its mountain of debt.
Greece’s prime minister is set to announce deeper spending cuts later Wednesday. If the measures are tough enough, that could pave the way for a lifeline when Greek and German leaders meet on Friday, analysts said.
Further helping sentiment were overnight gains in the U.S., where stocks rose a third day amid renewed confidence that business leaders expect the economic recovery to stick.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average edged up 15.63 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,237.47.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.2 percent at 1,618.86 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed at 20,911.97.
Elsewhere, Australia’s market rose 0.7 percent, lifted by news the country’s economy expanded quickly last quarter. Indian stocks added 0.7 percent and Shanghai’s market was 0.4 percent higher.
In currencies, the dollar fell to 88.68 yen from 88.80 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.3647 from 1.3615.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 3 cents to $79.71 a barrel in Asia. The contract rose 98 cents to settle at $79.68 on Tuesday.
In the U.S. Tuesday, the Dow rose 2.19, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,405.98. It is up 85 points in three days and is at its highest level since Jan. 20.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.60, or 0.2 percent, to 1,118.31, and the Nasdaq rose 7.22, or 0.3 percent, to 2,280.79.
Oil Lower On Indications Of Weak US Demand
SINGAPORE: Oil fell in Asian trade Wednesday as sentiment was dampened by a private report showing weaker US energy demand, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery was seven cents lower at 79.61 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for April delivery dropped four cents to 78.14 dollars a barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, said late Tuesday crude stocks in the country rose by 2.67 million barrels in the past week while gasoline reserves increased 909,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks, which include heating fuel, fell 4.07 million barrels.
“I think the crude build-up is certainly bearish so inventories remain high,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
“The fundamentals will prevent pricing from being sustainable at the 80-plus dollar level,” he said.
The API report is usually released a day before the weekly US Department of Energy (DoE) report on petroleum stocks movements.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones expect the DoE report to show crude stocks rising by one million barrels but distillate stocks is seen declining by 700,000 barrels.
Oil Near $72 Amid US Cold Snap
SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose near to $72 a barrel Monday in Asia after hitting a two-month low last week, boosted by tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and persistently cold weather in the U.S. northeast.
Benchmark crude for M
arch delivery was up 56 cents at $71.75 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $1.95 to settle at $71.19 on Friday.
Oil prices fell sharply late last week as concerns over swelling debt levels in Greece, Portugal and Spain and high unemployment in the U.S. cast doubt over the global economic recovery.
Helping crude rebound Monday were expectations of a spurt in demand for crude products like heating oil because of a cold spell in the U.S. and tensions in the Middle East.
“This is winter’s last hurrah, while Iran’s announcement also gives an excuse for investors to buy,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil was up 1.72 cent at $1.892 a gallon, and gasoline rose 0.5 cent to $1.8916 a gallon. Natural gas rose 11.9 cents to $5.634 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude was up 63 cents at $70.22 on the ICE futures exchange.
Oil Near $72 Amid US Cold Snap was first posted on February 8, 2010 at 1:49 pm.
Oil Prices Extend Gains
LONDON : Oil prices rose on Tuesday, building on strong gains won a day earlier in the wake of robust US manufacturing activity and fresh unrest in Nigeria’s key oil-producing region.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was up 27 cents at 74.70 dollars a barrel at about 0945 GMT.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March gained 29 cents to 73.40 dollars.
“In the near term, pricing will likely stay around the mid-70s level,” forecast said Victor Shum, an analyst at Purvin and Gertz energy consultants.
“When we see more signs of economic recovery, prices will creep back to 80 dollars but that might be in a few weeks,” Shum added.
Crude futures had closed up more than 1.5 dollars on Monday after a report from the Institute of Supply Management showed a brisk pace of manufacturing activity in the United States — the world’s biggest energy consumer.
The ISM said its manufacturing index, also known as the purchasing managers index, climbed to 58.4 percent in January, the best number since 2004 and well ahead of the 50 percent that indicates growth.
Renewed violence in Nigeria also fuelled prices.
Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell on Monday said it was forced to cut output after a key supply pipeline was sabotaged hours after militants announced the end of a ceasefire in southern Nigeria.
Oil Prices Extend Gains was first posted on February 2, 2010 at 7:40 pm.
Oil Slips on US Recovery Fears
LONDON : World oil prices weakened on Monday as recent weak economic data sparked fears about a recovery in the United States, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, eased 29 cents to 69.66 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery dropped 35 cents to 67.72 dollars a barrel.
“A slew of economic data (last week) rekindled worries over the prospects of a recovery in the United States,” said JBC Energy analysts in a note to clients.
Data released Friday showed the US economy was struggling to recover from recession as job losses accelerated to 263,000, sending the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September.
Payroll losses were far worse than expectations for a loss of 175,000 jobs, while there was an upwardly revised loss of 201,000 in August.
Payrolls have dropped for 21 consecutive months and since the start of the recession, the number of jobless has increased 7.6 million to 15.1 million, while unemployment has doubled to 9.8 percent, Labor Department figures show.
“There are ongoing worries about the pace of economic recovery after the disappointing US jobs data,” added Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
“At the top of traders’ minds now is the pace of economic recovery and the US economic situation still looks shaky,” he said.
Oil Slips on US Recovery Fears was first posted on October 5, 2009 at 3:24 pm.
